Raritan river MEGA float 8/31/17:

[AndyS]

Luke and I set out at 6:30am from Robert St Raritan Borough and floated all the way to Landing Lane bridge in Piscataway taking out at 3:30pm.
I never floated the Raritan and specifically targeted smallmouth bass, this was kind of a 1st for me. We both did well with the Kietechs, and I got a few on a black marabou jig also. We didn't set the world on fire or rack up incredible numbers but we did ok, took pics of a few of the larger fish.
River was incredibly clean from top to bottom. Didn't fish Riverside Park to Landing Lane as we had thunder storms chasing us from behind so just paddled the last 3 miles. Saw a bald eagle in Raritan Borough and one in South Bound Brook.

[thmyorke1]

Measured the river on maps and it came out to about 13 miles.

Worth the long float with that biggie. Agree quantity wasnt on our side (especially mine) and Im convinced it has to do with the lack of shade.

Id say up where we started to where bound brook's shale flats came into play was worthy water. I think the trip from queens bridge up to the parking would be worth it over the easier parking at landing lane parking. That would be a trip of ~9 miles, cutting 4 miles out, and 4 miles of the lesser water amoungst that float. With the shorter trip we could focus on PM hours too. And honestly I wouldnt mind carrying the boat to the canal since that towpath is pretty easy to walk.

Thanks for the adventure, Andy :cool:

[FASTEDDIE29]

Nice long float on a phenom ribber! Beautiful day with some beautiful river Bronze caught! What more could you ask for? Sucks that storm came in, you could've poised this hole or that hole a little while longer.:D

[Hookmanski]

Nice work fellas! My grandpa lives pretty close to where you launched from, I've fished the raritan from his farm a few times and done well with panfish, but no smallies as of yet. You guys seem to know the secrets!

[JDTuna]

Great smallmouth, Andy! Looks like you had a very productive float. Gotta love it.

[icebadger]

great report andy very nice bronzeback you have there.wait a minute that canoe looks empty without any tires in it , glad you got to do some fishing this time.

[23cardinal]

Good to see you both out catching.
I would agree on the shade. They've been partial to it in the dirty river too

[NJSquatch]

what the tires weren't biting? :p

glad to see you guys out fishing for a change. great report

[Jigman13]

See any esox?

[ScowardNJ]

No tire pics? Someone hack Andy's account? Good to see you doin some catchin once in while Andy!

[thmyorke1]

See any esox?

Im still on the fence between if it was a big long carp or a musky, but we saw something huge with a dark tail and some dark markings.

Funny thing is Andy gets something huge on the line and he loses it under a blown down a few minutes later.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Raritan River Sturgeon.........

[NorthJerzyG]

That's a long trip !! :eek: Love those, until I start to wonder if the battery is gonna last the whole trip back?! Nice bronze!!